>> announcer: and now from washington's leading news station, this is "news4 midday." >> it's going to come quicker. i changed the forecast this morning. >> so when will the famous trees be at peak bloom? we have the new information just out. good morning, everyone. welcome to "news4 midday." it's wednesday, march 14, 2012. well, the weather is one reason those trees are blooming early. today is going to feel like summer arrived in march. wait until you feel it. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the unusual forecast. >> there is a live picture from the city camera. don't see them popping out yet,

but i wouldn't be surprised if they do over the next couple of days because of all of this warm weather we've had throughout the month, everything has been accelerated and so are the temperatures. right now reagan national, 71, look at richmond, already up to 76 degrees there. it's into the 60s throughout most of virginia and maryland and near the beltway. it's now near 70, fredericksburg, 73, culpeper, charlottesville, that region seeing the warmest temperatures by midafternoon. closer to washington and much of fairfax county, near 70, arlington, montgomery in the your opinioner 60s, in the low 70s in prince george's county, much of southern maryland, little breeze in annapolis, 68 there. but it's well into the 60s to near 70 shenandoah valley into the mountains. for the afternoon, we'll have balmy sunshine and, yes, warm temperatures into the low 80s around the metro area, may even

hit mid-80s across north central virginia. i'll show you my regional highs this afternoon. that's combing up, and we'll look at how much longer this warm pattern will last in a couple of minutes. >> tom, thank you. as tom mentioned, the temperatures are rising nicely out there. that's changing the peak bloom of the cherry blossoms we're hearing today. news4's tracy wilkins is live along the tidal basin. what are they saying? >> reporter: they were originally saying it was going to come late in march, looking at it happening probably up against the 31st, just a couple of days before that. but, yes, it has changed. let me explain why. these warmer temperatures, we as washingtonians are walking around, stuck between winter and what feels like summer. same thing is happening with the blossoms. let me show you how we arrived at the change in date. if you look over at this building, that is the office of the man who does the forecast for the cherry blossoms. and if you look from one of the

windows there right over here to the right, you're going to see a cher roy blossom tree that is almost in full bloom. this is called the indicator tree. now, he says that when this indicator tree blooms and looks like that, about seven days later we're going to see all of these trees in bloom. so this is why he has changed the forecast. he watches the blooms and according to the indicator tree we're looking at the cherry blossoms coming earlier than expected, probably about a week earlier than expected. he's saying the bottom lionne i with the warm days and nights that hover above 60 degrees, these poor blossoms just aren't given a chance to rest so they're speeding up, meaning he'll have to change the forecast again. >> if you don't have those cold nights coming in, basically nothing puts the brakes on these things and they just keep moving. and like over a 24-hour period they will go twice as fast as if the temperature were to drop a little bit down into the 30s.

so what they're doing is normal. it's just back in the first of march i made my forecast i just wasn't expecting these unseasonably warm temperatures. >> reporter: so here is the brand new forecast. as of this morning, you're going to start to see these trees blooming around the 18th of march, a whole lot of white around the tidal basin, peak expected for between the 20th of march and the 23rd. again, about a week earlier than expected. now, he's saying that the best time for you to come out is going to be the following weekend. will it hang on for a whole other week? he's saying it all depends on the weather, what the rain looks like, the wind and what happens with the temperatures. so it's very hard to predict exactly how long we're going to have these blooms around. he doesn't think we'll have a 17-blooming day period, but he does think that we're going to at least make ten days.

so all eyes on the blossoms as they jump into what feels like summer weather a little earlier than expected. i'm tracy wilkins, news4. >> we've jumped in, haven't we? >> reporter: yeah, we had to jump in. we had to. and the blooms had to jump in right behind us. >> enjoy yourself out there. beautiful day. thanks so much. >> reporter: yes, it is. we're going to check on the midday traffic now. >> well, if you're take taiking the metro, we have scheduled track work slowing you down on the green and orange lines. expect delays on both lines in both directions. a live look right now at 395. bridge work happening in the right lane, but your travel speeds not so bad. in fact, making your way from the beltway to the 14th street bridge traveling northbound on 395, 55 miles per hour, that trip only taking 12 minutes. and crossing over the american legion bridge, no problems there. inner and outer loop absolutely clear. barbara, back to you.

>> thank you. well, right now a german man accused of killing his 91-year-old wife is in court. a judge is listening to arguments he's not competitive dent to stoond trial. police say albert muff strangled and beat his wife in their home. court documents show a psychologist said muff was delusional and hallucinating. the doctor also says muff does not have the mental capacity right now to stand trial, but his condition should improve in time and with treatment. albert muth is his name. police are looking for a clues after a man suspected of killing his wife was found dead. michelle mcguire was found dead yesterday. the suspect was found late last night at a home on fordham street in rockville. we're told he died of a

self-inflicted gunshot wound. surveillance video at a gas station on connecticut avenue shows him throwing mcguire from a minivan into the street. mcguire filed a protective order against him in november. sources tell news4 he had been living out of his car since the couple split and was upset over the possibility of losing contact with his 1-year-old son. >> this man had a pretty significant criminal history. i'm just glad that we were able to resolve this case without further loss of life. >> police say they're searching the house he was found in. the victim heather mcguire is survived by her four children. well, there's still no sign of a man who carjacked an suv with a 5-month-old in the back seat. it happened in southeast d.c. police say the baby had just been strapped into his car seat when a man jumped into the suv and took off. there was an intense search that ended a half hour later a mile

away. police say the carjacker ditched the suv with the infanlt still inside. the baby was not hurt. a loudoun county couple is headed to court today to contest criminal charges for frequently sending their children to school late. amy and mark denacor could face a $500 fine for violating a virginia school attendance law. loudoun county schools say their three children have been late to school almost 30 times since september. a mother was recently found guilty of a similar law. police say her had daughters were late 85 times so far this school year. today's trial is scheduled to begin at 3:00 this afternoon. meanwhile, federal prosecutors have expanded their campaign corruption probe in the district. it's a story we brought you first on 4. federal prosecutors ordered several d.c. council members to turn over their campaign records connected to a prominent businessman jeff rey thompson.

subpoenas were served to get documents dating back as far as 2003. thompson is an accountant who owns the city's largest medicaid contractor and also a political contributor. the fbi raided his home and offices, mayor vincent gray's mayorial campaign is already the focus of a federal corruption investigation. nine minutes after 11:00 is the time now. coming up, why the prime minister of great britain is talking about installing a basketball court on downing street. we were all deeply shocked and saddened by the event that occurred there. >> plus, a critical visit today in afghanistan by defense secretary leon panetta as tensions in the country remain extremely high. and how allergy sufferers can survive the

>> announcer: you're watching "news4 midday.." new today, a series of earthquakes raltd tokyo and northeastern japan. it began with a mag any tu 6.8 quake followed by a 6.0 quake three hours later. it triggered a tsunami warning. a small wave hit but no report of widespread damage. this is the same area where the major quake hit almost exactly one year ago, triggering a deadly tsunami. we have a developing story

out of afghanistan this morning. eight people are dead after a roadside bomb exploded in the helmand province, the second deadly bloost today as the second of defense tries to ease tension between the u.s. and civilians there. here's more now, aaron? >> the roadside bombing is just the latest in a series of developments in that country. earlier this morning, an afghan intelligence official was killed when a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded. three others were injured as well. that explosion happened in kandahar, just a few yards from before a meeting was being held by an afghan delegation investigating this weekend's shootings that killed 16 civilians, including 9 children. at almost the same time, defense secretary leon panetta was landing in the helmand province for an unannounced visit. he made several spots where he spoke to some of the troops. apparently the visit had been in the works for several weeks,

long before a u.s. army staff sergeant was accused of killing civilians in cold blood. on this trip, panetta is scheduled to immediate with president hamid karzai. the shootings are likely to be part of the conversations there, but as he told the troops today, the shooting koontd derail military efforts. afghanistan's defense secretary spoke out against the shootings this morning as he says he fears the taliban could capitalize on it. >> the incident in kandahar is regrettable, deplorable, condemnable and there is no excuse, but i think that is much more at stake. >> officials in afghanistan says the u.s. military also showed them surveillance video of the soldier accused in the murders returning to his base, laying down his weapon and then throwing his hands up in surrender. they say they were shown that tape to prove he acted alone. that soldier is still in u.s. military custody and there is word that alcohol may have been

a factor in the shootings. now fwback to you. this morning, president barack obama and the fist lady michelle obama welcomed british prime minister david cameron and his wife in an elab rattle ceremony at the white house, complete with a 19-gun salute, had everything, the official visit not a state visit, the two will hold policy talks today. later in the newscast we'll talk about the two leaders' trip to a college basketball game and whot president thinks will win the national championship. a big night for rick santorum. the former pennsylvania senator won the alabama and mississippi primaries yesterday, and both races were close in alabama santorum beat gingrich by $6 percentage points, mitt romney a

few thousand votes behind gingrich, ron paul a distant fourth. mississippi's primary was even closer, santorum held off gingrich by two percentage points, romney a close third, paul finishing fourth. romney did claim two victories yesterday, he won the hawaii caucus and also the caucus in american samoa. and right now congress is taking up rare legislation on capitol hill, a proposed bill that would cut off pay to lawmakers is getting surprising moment um momentum. they're hearing the no budget no pay act, the bipartisan bill is an attempt to find ways to improve the congressional process. if passed, lawmakers wouldn't get paid if they don't pass a budget or pass other critical legislation in time. well, we are enjoying exactly what tom said we were going to see today, some beautiful sunshine and temperatures on the rise. breaking any records, tom? >> the record is 86 set on this date for today, march 14th, that

was back in 19 it 90. i don't think it will get that hot at reagan national, but it may get that warm 30 miles to the south of washington. right now we are awash in sun and the city camera is looking at the tidal basin and we're looking for cherry blossoms. now, there are a few that have begun to show up, just a very few, and as we just heard tracy broke the news, rob defayo at the park service, horticulturist there, he has now said the peak bloom may be march 20th to 23rd. now, the earliest peak bloom on record is march 17th, that occurred in the year 2000. so this is going to be a near record early bloom. right now reagan national 71 pleasant degrees, a light north-northeasterly breeze, the humidity fairly low, pollen count up.

tree pollen count is high for cedar, cypress and juniper. look at the temperatures across the eastern half of the country, from texas in the upper midwest to the east coast, much above average already around the low 70s most locations, closer to us, we're into the mid-70s through central virginia, right around washington now temperatures locally near 70 here in the district, montgomery, prince george's, arlington and fairfax. farther south, fredericksburg up to 75 degrees already. it may climb another ten degrees there later today. culpeper at 75, shenandoah valley near 70. view from space, showing a clear sky, just a few clouds coming through from the north but those will exit. over the next 48 hours, we'll stay dry today, a clear night tonight and tomorrow another day with lots of sunshine and we'll have a few clouds rolling in by thursday night. all this area in green you see popping up is an area of maybe some sprinkles or maybe some light showers late thursday night. and then on friday could get

some passing showers through the day, maybe a little thunder and lightning during the afternoon. then that should begin to clear out for the weekend. for the rest of the afternoon, plenty of sunshine, the record high 86 set on this date back in 1990. we'll be into probably the low 80s right around reagan national around washington, but it may hit the upper 80s just to our south. here are the regional temperatures. i think it will become mid-80s through fredericksburg, manassas, low 80s close to washington, around the bay a bit cooler with the wind off the water in the 70s. along the pennsylvania border into western maryland as well. shenandoah valley into the low and mid-80s and for the evening sun sets at 7:15, a clear and mild evening, in the mid-70s right around sunset down to the mid-60s by midnight. by dawn tomorrow, we'll have it down into the low to noomid hoi 50s. another summerlike day thursday. then perhaps rain off and on thursday night, maybe a passing thundershower as well as off and

on friday. that will wash some of the pollen out of the air. then we'll dry out just in time for the weekend, saturday and sunday, sunshine back, highs in the 70s, little cooler monday and tuesday. but feeling like summer today and tomorrow. >> thanks. we'll check on the midday traffic now. >> good morning. if you're taking the beltway, roll your windows down, drop your sunroof or convertible. absolutely clear. great weather and great day to travel because very light volume. take a look at this, 60 miles per hour as you make your way from route 50 to i-95. that trip only takes nine minutes. taking the beltway in montgomery county, great at colesville road, your travel speed 57 miles per hour on the outer loop, not bad, only ten minutes from i-95 to i-270. no accidents to report around the beltway at this time. back to you. it's 11:20. still ahead on "news4 midday," how to talk to your teen about drinking. plus, what is raky and how

can it help cancer patients? first, here's

p. whether you've been diagnosed with cancer or are caring with somebody with the

disease, it's important to it get the facts and to keep moving forward with hope and determination. well, the group hope for cancer do just that for people. paul rothenburg president of the nonprofit and susan killborn, a reiki masteror join us and talk about their services they provide. thanks for being with us. it is important to move forward with hope and determination if you have cancer or if you are treating somebody or helping somebody to try to survive. so tell us about hope keksz. what do they do? >> well, we provide free programs of emotional support, education and hope for people with cancer and their loved ones. >> and you brought along an example of one of the things that folks can get. susan, you're a reiki master. i've had reiki before. i know that it feels good, whether you're suffering from something other than just being tired or you just want new energy. tell us about how it helps cancer patients.

incidentally, let me quickly say that we have ryan strauss here who actually works with us on nbc 4 and certainly helps out a lot with midday. today he's getting a bit of a rest. he's not a cancer patient, but he is our model for today. so tell us about how this helps anyone but specifically cancer patients. >> reiki is an alternative healing technique, and what it does is uses the energy in the universe in the air between you and me and through me to ryan it helps him to relax. >> why don't you show us a little bit of how it works. i know that you don't necessarily touch the person's body. >> you don't have to. it is not massage. your hands don't move.

you just place them gently in seven or eight different locatio locations. >> do you feel something when you're -- >> and stand there. >> just allow your energy to flow into that person. >> no. it is not my energy. >> no, it's not your energy. >> it's the energy in the universe. >> oh, i see. >> it just comes through me. so what i'm asking when i begin is, let me be a clear and open channel. nothing else. >> does this have any religious connections? >> none. >> well, it seems to work. i have a lot of friends who do it on a regular basis. what other kinds of things -- you can continue giving ryan this wonderful treatment. i think he's enjoying it -- do you provide? >> we have four core programs. we do support groups both with individuals with all types of cancer and meeting separately for caregivers. we have the mind/body programs of which reiki is one. we do yoga. we do a pilates program for women who have had breast cancer

surgery. then we have educational workshops that range from cancer specific topics to nutrition to side or pain management programs. >> how can people find out more about what you do and get involved if they need it? >> they should go to our web site, hope connections for cancer.org or they can call us at 301-493-5002. and it's important to note that there's no charge for any of the programs that we do, and it doesn't matter where you received your treatment, whether you are currently in treatment or you've been out of treatment for a year but you're still suffering from limb foe deem ma or fatigue, you can come to us. >> fantastic. ryan, sit up quickly and tell me how it felt. i think we've got to wake him up now. thanks a lot, ryan. 11:27 is the time. coming up in the next half hour on "news4 midday," this morning the first slot machines arrived

at the new maryland casino. we're going to show them to you. plus, the early warm weather is bringing early suffering to people with allergies. we'll tell you the best way to fight the symptoms. and

right now, rick santorum is celebrating two big victories. he won the alabama and mississippi primaries yesterday. newt gingrich came in second in both of the contests. mitt romney finished third. romney did win yesterday's hawaii and american samoa primaries. the santorum victories give the former senator momentum going forward for the race for president. they also deal a devastating blow to newt gingrich's white house hopes. nbc's tracie potts has more on the race now for capitol hill. >> we did it again. >> reporter: rick santorum won mississippi with a third of the

vote and alabama with 35%. speaking from louisiana where he promised another big win next week, santorum hinted newt gingrich should drop out of the race. >> the time is now for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to make sure, to make sure, that we have the best chance to win this election. >> reporter: gingrich came in second in both states and gave no indication he's quitting. instead, he focused on mitt romney's failure to win the conservative southern vote. >> if you're the front-runner and you keep coming in third, you're not much of a front-runner. the elite media's effort to convince the nation that mitt romney is inevitable just collapsed. >> reporter: romney didn't give a speech last night. in a statement, he congratulated santorum and claimed delegates from mississippi and alabama put him closer to the nomination. romney's focused on missouri.

santorum won missouri's nonbinding primary last month, but romney says straw polls don't count. >> we didn't participate as a campaign in iowa straw poll or florida straw poll. but when the delegates are at stake, that's when we go to work. >> reporter: and new this morning, mitt romney has won the hawaii caucuses with 45% of the vote. newt gingrich came in last there after ron paul. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. and rick santorum made up a little ground on mitt romney in the delegate count yesterday, but yesterday's primaries might have shown problems with romney's campaign. this morning on the "today" show, chuck todd said that romney is still struggling to connect with many republicans. >> he is not winning the heart and soul of the republican party. this has always been the challenge, right. eight, nine months ago we kept saying mitt romney is the guy, the favorite for the nomination, but nobody was quite sure how he gets there, how the end game happens. and we're still in that place. how does he land this plane? it's not clear. he has the math.

i mean, ironically, he may win the night on dell galts when we finish counting thanks to america samoa, but boy does he have a problem with the base of the party. >> the next state up for grabs is missouri. it holds its caucus this coming saturday. well, new today, the first batch of those slot machines are getting installed right now in the new maryland live casino. crews unloaded about 100 of the machines off a truck just hours ago. we were there for the arrival and here's more. >> reporter: it is a big day here at maryland live casino, the first 100 gaming machines, these actually happen to be slot machines, are being rolled in here this monk to be installed in the $500 million casino. crews are bringing them through a loading dock and installing and testing them right here on the floor. now, once it's complete, the casino will feature more than 4,700 machines like these, including electronic table games and blackjack andrew let, six

restaurants will be built, a plaza will connect the casino to anna rundell hills mall. there was a lot of wrangling for this to become a reality for the developer. >> anytime it's tougher to get through the journey, the sweeter it is. so it's been tremendously fulfilling. this is going to be a world-class gaming and entertainment facility. >> reporter: right now they are hiring for 1,500 openings. if all goes as planned with the construction here, the first phase of the casino will open in the summer, the second phase in the fall. in hanover, maryland, news4. a team of government surveyors is trying to figure out if last year's earthquake is causing the washington monument to sink. the monument cracked and crumbled when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit in august. now surveyors are trying to figure out if it's tilting or sinking. the last survey of the monument

was conducted in 2009 so any settling could be likely blamed on the earthquake. work to fix the monument is expected to begin in late summer. the monument will likely be closed until next year. many of us are enjoying the glorious early spring weather, but the warm temperatures have ushered in an early allergy season. >> very warm so the trees are releasing the pollen at higher counts than ever before and people aren't prepared because the trees are getting in before the pollen comes out. and because of this weather coming out of nowhere, no one was prepared. they're really not medicated before hand and are really feeling the effects. >> you can develop allergies at any age. doctors recommend over-the-counter antihistamines or eye drops first. if you don't alleviate your symptoms, you may need prescription medication. let's check in with tom kierein for the latest on the forecast. tom, how high are we getting today? >> looks like we'll hit the 80s.

we've got the sunshine, live view from our skywatcher camera overlooking northwest washington in the foreground. off in the distance is southern loudoun county and montgomery county, northern, off to the left is fairfax county and all across the region temperatures are now climbing into the 70s. fredericksburg, culpeper, manassas, low to mid-70s. southern maryland also low to mid mciff 70s. near washington 70, right near the bay waters any breeze off the water a bit cooler, highs expected this afternoon should hit the mid-80s across north central virginia, including warrenton and manassas and culpeper and fredericksburg, parts of southern maryland, too. closer to washington, the low 80s and near the bay peaking in the mid and upper 70s. out of the mountains, too, most locations mid and upper 70s. and then tonight under a clear sky, a mild evening, 50s tomorrow morning and then sunny tomorrow morning, clouds coming in late on thursday, highs again

into the low 80s. might get a shower, passing thundershower late thursday night, on and off friday, that will wash some of the pollen out of the air. then we'll get sunshine back for the weekend, high 70s saturday and sunday, and near 70 monday and tuesday. well, while you may soon be paying more to ride metro, the transit agency's top brass is being paid quite well. metro's top 16 executives earned $3.1 million last year according to "the washington post." general manager richard sorelies made $357,000 more than his counterpart in new york. this comes as melt troe considers fair hikes to help close a $160 million budget deficit in its 2013 budget. riders could face an average increase of about 5%. for the second day in a row, gas prices are above the $4 mark in the district according to aaa, the average sits at $4.01 per gallon. it even jumped a fraction of a

penny over night. and it costs you much more in northwest d.c., one gallon of regular sets you back $5.39 a gallon. maryland's average went up a penny to $3.82 overnight. in virginia drivers are paying $3.71, one cent more than yesterday, west virginia had the same increase, the average is $3.87 there. some analysts expect gas prices to level off. we hope so. around memorial day if not go down. gas prices could inch up, though, even more in maryland if governor martin o'malley gets his way. today he plans to pitch a plan to the senate committee in annapolis to increase the sales tax on gas by 6%. right now maryland's gas tax is at 23.5 cents and has not gone up since 1992. some state senators want the governor to hold off on presenting a tax increase on gas until those prices start to go down. we'll take a look now at traffic. let' see what's going on on the

roads. >> let's start with the rails. if you're taking metro, seeing delays on the orange line and the green line due to scheduled trook work. so you can expect delays on both lines in both directions. now, over to the roadways, you can see road work still taking place on the 14th street bridge and it's blocking the right lane. but your troofl speeds on 395, not bad at all. take a look, 53 miles per hour making your way northbound on 395 from the beltway to the 14th street bridge, that trip only 12 minutes at this time. and smooth sailing along i-270 with no reported accidents, definitely no delays. you're looking at father hurley boulevard. it is a nice ride right now. >> it sure is. even better with a convertible. >> definitely. >> thanks a lot. dog owners are needed to help figure out what's sickening hundreds of dogs. u.s. health officials say more than 600 dogs have come down with a mysterious illness, possibly tied to chicken jerky pet treats.

at least three popular brands of treats may be associated with kidney failure and other serious illnesses. wagon train, canyon creek rank and milo's kitchen home are some treats that are named in the complaints. most of those treats are made in china. the fda says they need pet owners to submit complaints and samples of treats to try to solve this illness. u.s. soldiers found a stray dog in war-torn afghanistan that was bruised and battered. now that dog is in alexandria. this is a dorell phone video of the dog's arrival yesterday. several u.s. soldiers found the dog when he was a pup walking the streets of afghanistan. at the time, the pup was bleeding from the neck and fighting an infection. well, the soldiers nursed him back to health. they notifie the afghan stray animal league and that nonprofit group made arrangements to bring the dog on that 8,000-mile journey here to the u.s. >> for a dog that's been through

what he has been, he came right out of the crate, went up to emily and immediately bonlded and kissed her. he was just such a happy dog for what he's been through. >> polly bravo still needs a few more trips to the vet to heal the scars around his neck, but otherwise we understand the dog seems happy to be in america. it's 11:42 and still ahead on "news4 midday," teens and drinking. should parents teach their children with responsible [ female announcer ] with xfinity, you can always expect more. like more on demand shows and movies than ever. and more ways to discover them too. plus more speed from america's fastest internet provider. so you can run more devices at the same time. ♪ feel a firework [ female announcer ] and best of all, it keeps getting better. no wonder more people choose xfinity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪

but in the sleep number store, we hear it all the time. yeah, nine out of ten couples disagree on the firmness they want in a mattress. i sleep on the couch. with our bed, the sleep number setting represents the firmness that you like on your half of the mattress. don't mess with my side because i'm comfortable. i can adjust mine to my liking and she can do the same. go ahead and switch sides so you can feel what the other side feels like. you're on his side. how does that feel? it's hard. i like my side i like my better, too. side better. this is this is too soft. too hard. why don't we switch back to where you were. i am so glad to be back. oh, yeah. you can have comfort and you can be in the same bed. there's no debate because you can have it your way and i'll have it mine. so we save a lot of marriages. discover the amazing sleep number bed, only at a sleep number store... where during our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. plus, free standard shipping but only through march 18th! there are 400 sleep number stores nationwide, where queen mattresses start at just $699.

>> announcer: you're waufrping "news4 midday." well, the next time you go through security, you may want to double-check if you grabbed your pocket change. it seems lots of people forget it and all that money is adding up. the transportation safety administration collected more than $400,000 in spare change

last year. apparently passengers at dulles are the most forgetful in our area. dulles collected nearly 14,000 bucks. under federal law, the tsa puts the money into the homeland security account. a florida congressman is trying to change the law so the money could go toward making airports more accommodating for military personnel. small gains this morning on wall street after tuesday's strong close. let's check in right now with cnbc's mary thompson to find out more about that and get the rest of the day's business headlines. hi, mary. good morning. some of those gains have actually turned to losses as the markets are mixed right now. as you said on the heels of yesterday's big rally when the markets gained their biggest day of the year. the dow is up about 10 points, s&p and nasdaq both down about 2 points. the earlier rally coming aamid good news on housing. applications for refinancing mortgages fell last week. applications for loans to purchase actually rose 4.4%. today the nation's largest

life insurer is under pressure, met life shares down about 5% after the company failed the federal reserve's latest stress test. metlife says the test is flawed in the way it assesses an insurance company's books. its latest test measuring the resilience of the balance sheets of the largest 19 financial firms. citigroup also under pressure as a result of the stress tests make it less likely the banking giant will be raising its dividend this year. morgan stanley sticking a $960 price forget on the maker of ipods and ipads saying the firm trading at over $580 has much more profit potential than investors realize. and in the meantime, gold is lower as hopes for an improving economy is weakening demand for the metal. it is down just about $4$48. back to you. what should a parent do? is it better for parents to have a zero tolerance approach to

alcohol or to encourage moderation? does a more relaxed attitude toward alcohol use lead to more responsible drinking? dr. joshua wiener joins us with the results of a recent study on the subject. good morning. >> good morning. >> what are they saying now? >> this looked at college-aged students, 600 students, and evaluating the amount of drinking they did and how that correlated with their parents' attitude towards drinking. and it found that those kids whose parents took more of a permissive approach, an approach where they encouraged moderation 200% more than those kids whose parents took a more hard-line approach and said, this is something really not acceptable to us. >> i was expecting you to say just the opposite. >> i think most people were expecting that. i think a lot of people have this opinion, if you take this approach where alcohol is the forbidden fruit, so to speak, kids are not allowed to drink at all, they'll go off to college or when they have the freedom to drink they'll just go wild,

crazy and drinking everything in sight. >> so i guess this attitude about alcohol, justs zero tolerance, should start very early, then, even before they leave home to go away to college. >> absolutely. i think it should start really when kids are starting to get around eighth, ninth grade. that's when kids usually start to experiment. >> you hear the french who say, oh, we let our children start drinking wine very early and they never get crazy with it, what do you think of that? >> it's interesting because when i was looking into this study i looked into some of that issue exactly, and really what studies indicate is that that's really a myth, that the drinking problem in europe is actually greater than the drinking problem in the united states. >> is that right? >> apparently some countries are thinking about dhachanging some the drinking laws because they're having a real rash of kids who are really getting into trouble with drinking too much at too early of an age. >> so how should parents present this zero tolerance to their children and when should that begin? >> i think it should begin, again, around eighth or ninth

grade. i think the approach parents should tyke is, look, i know you may be faced with drink. this is something you'll see at parties and with your friends. but we want you to know this is something we really don't want you to do. and there will be consequences if we find out that you've been drinking. i think it's important for parents to talk to their kids ahead of time, before you run into the problem about some of the consequences and what they might be. i think it's important for parents also to not go overboard with consequences. don't ground your child for two months, but i think it's reasonable for them to be grounded and not be allowed to go out for a couple weeks. kids expect some consequence for their drinking. i think parents need to expect their kids might try it, but i think they also need to be willing to give a consequence and follow through with that. >> so is grounding the most appropriate consequence for a child doing something you don't want them to do? >> you mean for anything related to alcohol? >> yeah. >> i think what you really want to do is target your consequence

to the behavior. i think if they're acting out in school, i don't think the consequence should be grounding. i think you ought to find a consequence that is suitable to what the problem was. you want it to be a reasonable consequence and tied to what they were doing that they shouldn't. >> i think having raised some teenag teenagers, i know trying to figure out how to punish them, they never seem to really care, okay, all right, punish me, then. >> i know. i hear that all the time in my practice. i think what a lot of parents are resorting to now is taking away technology because that's one thing that really does matter. >> i think that does, yes. technology. if they can't go into their room with that iphone or whatever -- >> exactly. they feel like they can't function, they've lost an arm if they don't have their phone with them. >> that might be the secret. >> it works for a lot of people, but i think you want to be thoughtful about the punishment you give u. don't want to just rely on that for everything. >> lrall right. no tolerance, that's your last word on alcohol. >> yeah. it's -- i really do -- that's what studies show. this is not the only study to

show that. i also think, real quickly, parents need to model good behavior. you've got to make sure you're not drinking a lot in front of your kids. then there's a mixed message. also, lock up your alcohol. if you have teenagers, keep it away. you're asking for trouble if you have a full liquor bar. >> you're not saying parents shouldn't drink in front of their kids, just in moderation? >> i think parents need to drink in moderation, preferably not drink at all, though. >> dr. weiner, thank you very much. >> thank you, barbara. 11:52 is the time. coming up, we'll break down president obama's march madness picks. plus, meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check on how long this warm weather is going to last. hi. tomorrow morning on "news4 today," the madness begins. what you need to know about our local teams in the big dance. plus, the future of food. the gadgets that could soon make your morning routine

the reds skins are already making a splash this off-season. the skins have signed two wide receivers less than a day after nfl's free agency began.

they signed pierre garcon to a five-year deal. also they reached a deal with josh morgan. he's from this area and was a star at virginia tech you may remember. he broke a leg early last season while playing for the 49ers. washington is apparently looking to bolster its defense. espn's adam chaster is reporting that bears free agent safety brandon meriweather is meeting with the team today. got your college basketball bracket filled out yet? president obama finished his his and revealed his picks this morning. here are the four teams he picked to make it to the final four -- kentucky, ohio state, missouri, and north carolina. the president picked eed north carolina to win it all. interesting. at least three of these schools are in swing states. the president and british prime minister david cameron were in dayton, ohio, last night for the first game in the tournament. the world leaders were treated

to exciting games. western kentucky edged mississippi valley state 59-58 and brigham young came back from a 20-point deficit to beat iona 78-72. this morning cameron talked about how much fun he had at the games and even joked about bringing some elements of march madness back to london with him. going to take a look now at some of the stories we're following on news4 this afternoon. dramatic moments and a cliff-hanger ending the desperate housewives trial in los angeles. a former actress is accusing the show's creator of wrongful termination. ♪ and i try and i try ♪ i can't get no satisfaction and at 5:00, what's your workout? cycling plus karaoke? a class that gives your legs and your lungs a workout. and it's time for our final check own the forecast. good day to get your legs and lungs worked out. >> wonderful day for outdoor exercise and fun, bike riding and walking around, smelling the flowers because they're up, it's

feeling more like a june morning than certainly march. right now 73 at reagan international, culpeper at 77 already, fredericksburg 78, ought to hit the mid-80s there by midafternoon. here locally around 80 degrees by midafternoon and then again tomorrow in the 80s. then cooler weather friday into the weekend, maybe some rain friday. see you tomorrow morning. spring fever, tom, i've got it. thanks. that's new"news4 midday." we invite you to tune in again at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and again at 11:00. thanks for joining us. have a terrific